#139

Josh and Mike sit down with Xavier Mariezcurrena Vega, co-founder of Over Easy Office and ChouxBox to trace the winding road that took him from busing tables as a teenager to running a 400-person back-office operation spanning Philadelphia, Bogotá, and Manila. Xavier shares the story of opening and losing a restaurant in Dallas, the friendship with his business partner Tony that grew out of a failed concept in Philadelphia, and how their shared frustration with messy invoices and unreliable financial reporting led them to build a company designed to bring transparency and accountability to restaurant operations.

The conversation digs into how Xavier and Tony built their Philippines-based team from scratch, the early days of scanning invoices by hand to win over skeptical operators, and the cultural and logistical challenges of training a team to understand the chaos of restaurant data. Xavier offers a candid take on why he believes bookkeepers and the human-in-the-loop will remain essential for the foreseeable future, even as AI tools improve, and explains the difference between administrative bookkeeping and the deeper financial insight that helps operators actually run their businesses. He also weighs in on the limits of automation and robotics in restaurants, the realities of working with razor-thin margins, and what keeps him optimistic about the future of independent restaurants. The episode closes with a lighter detour into wine, corkage fees, and the debate over whether a good bottle can ever really be bad for you.

Links and resources 📌

Visit meez: https://www.getmeez.com

Follow meez on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/getmeez

Follow Josh on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joshlsharkey/?hl=en

Follow Josh on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-sharkey-406965b/

Follow Xavier on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/followxavier/

Follow Xavier on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/winepeopleproblems/

Follow Overseasoned (Xavier and Tony's podcast) on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/overseasoned.us/

Visit Over Easy Office: https://www.overeasyoffice.com
Follow Michael on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-jacober-713104124/

Visit Blanket: https://www.blanket.app/

Follow Michael: @michaeljacober

Timestamps

08:24 Xavier's Path From Busboy To Restaurant Owner

13:39 Meeting Tony And The Failed American Oak Concept

17:16 The Idea Behind Over Easy Office And ChouxBox

21:01 Building The Team In The Philippines From Scratch

24:38 Winning Over Skeptical Restaurant Operators

32:01 Landing Early Clients And Learning The Hard Way

41:23 Are Bookkeepers Going Extinct With AI

48:01 Defining What A Bookkeeper Actually Does

56:31 The Limits Of Automation And Robotics In Restaurants

01:02:43 Rising Costs, Shrinking Margins, And The Future Of Restaurants

01:07:24 Wine, Corkage Fees, And Closing Thoughts

#138

Josh sits down with Thomas Buckley, Corporate Executive Chef of Nobu Restaurants and one of the key culinary leaders behind more than 60 Nobu locations worldwide. Thomas shares the unlikely path that took him from a vegetarian upbringing in a seaside town in England to some of the world’s most influential kitchens, including The Connaught, Daniel, El Bulli, and ultimately Nobu. Along the way, he reflects on discovering his passion for cooking, learning classical French technique, and how a transformative experience in Spain changed the way he thought about food forever.

The conversation explores what has kept Thomas at Nobu for nearly three decades, the philosophy and leadership style of Nobu Matsuhisa, and the challenge of maintaining consistency across a global restaurant empire. They discuss grower relationships, sourcing, Japanese culinary principles, opening restaurants around the world, the evolution of Nobu’s menu, and the lessons Thomas has learned from working with some of the greatest chefs of his generation. He also shares stories from early Nobu Miami, the realities of opening restaurants at scale, and why simplicity, restraint, and respect for ingredients continue to define great hospitality.

Links and resources 📌

Visit meez: https://www.getmeez.com

Follow meez on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/getmeez

Follow Josh on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joshlsharkey/?hl=en

Follow Josh on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-sharkey-406965b/

Visit Nobu: https://www.noburestaurants.com

Follow Nobu on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/noburestaurants/

Follow Thomas on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomas-buckley-385a27a/

Follow Thomas on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fissionchips/

Timestamps

00:02 Growing Up Vegetarian In England

02:14 Discovering Cooking And Culinary School

05:05 Moving To London And The Connaught

10:10 Working In France And Michelin Kitchens

13:47 From Daniel To Nobu

18:55 The Philosophy Behind Nobu’s Food

25:24 Building Global Consistency Across 60+ Restaurants

31:51 Tempura, Rice, And The Details That Matter

40:56 Opening Nobu Miami And The Early Days

48:51 Nobu Hotels, Future Projects, And What’s Next

#137

Josh sits down with Jenn Saesue and Chat Suansilphong, co-founders of 55 Hospitality, recorded at Bangkok Supper Club. Chat learned to cook in his father's restaurant in Thailand before the CIA and Colicchio & Sons. Jenn opened her first restaurant at 22 and watched it fail. The two met managing a Thai restaurant group in Hell's Kitchen, then built Fish Cheeks, Bangkok Supper Club, Fish Cheeks Williamsburg, and the allergen-free Bub's Bakery. The thread through all of it: do fewer things, do them with intention, and trust people to run them.

Jenn and Chat explain why Fish Cheeks opened with under twenty items and no pad thai, even after friends asked if they were stupid (pad thai, Chat notes, was pushed by the Thai government and is something most Thai people eat once a year). They get into refusing to dial down the spice, why sourcing is the only real moat once recipes leak, and why the stigma against machines in a kitchen is both shortsighted and bad for keeping good cooks. The back half turns to Bub's Bakery, born from her husband's intolerances and a seventeen dollar chocolate truffle at the green market, built with Chef Melissa Weller (Per Se, Bouchon, Sadelle's) on one rule: taste good first, allergen-free second.

Links and resources 📌

Visit meez: https://www.getmeez.com

Follow meez on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/getmeez

Follow Josh on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joshlsharkey/?hl=en

Follow Josh on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-sharkey-406965b/

Follow Jenn Saesue on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenn-saesue-7794341b3/

Visit Fish Cheeks: https://www.fishcheeksnyc.com

Follow Fish Cheeks on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fishcheeksnyc

Follow 55 Hospitality on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/55hospitality

Visit Bangkok Supper Club: https://www.bangkoksupperclub.com

Visit Bub's Bakery: https://www.bubsbakery.com/

Timestamps

00:00 Parenting, reward systems, and life with young kids

03:15 The origins of Fish Cheeks and Bangkok Supper Club

06:20 From CIA and Bouley to Per Se and Noma

13:20 Why Fish Cheeks refused to serve Pad Thai

18:05 The philosophy behind authentic Thai flavors

24:10 Essential Thai ingredients and sourcing challenges

28:50 Building Bubble Dogs and pairing champagne with hot dogs

34:40 Grower champagne and what makes it special

40:10 Opening a gluten-free bakery that actually tastes good

50:15 Technology, AI, and the future of restaurant operations